Big Sister ChiChi, unsurprisingly, liked to take things easy as she meandered in the dark depths of space between star systems.

True, her Aetheric Slipstream drive systems were suitably large... your idle calculations indicated that she could go faster, that she was nowhere near her maximum top speed.

When you asked her about this, she had simply laughed and smiled. "Ciara, what I can do and what I'm known to be able to do are two different thing. True, I could go faster... but everyone knows that I only go at such speed when I'm running away, and thus they assume that I can only go so fast."

You had to nod at that, if their assumptions were off... then in an emergency, it would be a surprise for everyone involved. Still, her current speed was but a fraction of what she could achieve, theoretically according to your calculations.

The transfer of your repair drones went without issues as they set up nests in your Big Sister's repair facilities. A sight that you and your big sisters watched with fascination now and then, given how different your drones appeared from the ones used by all of your big sisters.

More importantly, the fabrication of more repair drones and specialized replacement parts for your drone fabbers and nest was without issues as raw materials were transferred to your fabbers from Big Sister.

And so, the days slowly passed as you and your big sisters played with each other and familiarized yourselves with each other's bodies and skills. You found yourself unable to imagine a life without your big sisters.

The route taken by Big Sister ChiChi was circuitous and hardly efficient. But then she wasn't focused on an A to B point to point travel, even if you and your big sisters got into a routine of having a deep scan of any system you emerged outside of, and being ready to fight or run... you had yet to do either.

Rather, she planned her route on resource intake. What resources any given system had, from rare ores to organic material harvested from garden worlds.

More you got to witness a 'merchant' or 'supply tender' ship's method of intake. Massive Matter to Energy to Matter converters efficiently tore apart matter she brought into her ship's maw with tractor beams.

The only drawback was the size of the converters, and the speed that they tore things apart. Those were the reason why you hadn't asked Big Sister ChiChi for a version sized to your ship form.

And so, you got to witness new vista...

Eventually, numerous systems later... you were informed by your Big Sister that all of you would be at Utopia soon, and so all of you were to be on your best behaviour. No stealing from the other cliques, she said with a look at your other big sisters. No fighting, this was said with a look at all of you. No laughing at the pets, even if they were forced to wear amusing outfits. This was neutral ground and she would like to keep it that way.

Jumping into the system, you could scarce believe what you saw...

There was a degenerate star, as stated by your Big Sister... but when she said Royale orbited it, you had imagined a massive ship in a steady orbit around it. Not what your sensor, let alone So's sensors, were telling you.

The star system was devoid of all mass, just the degenerate star and a massive lattice of metal and exotic alloys around it like a cage or perhaps a shattered world of metal, an incomplete sphere that fed on the degenerate star, tearing at it's mass with over-powered tractor beams.

That was Royale, a single look at her and you knew that this was one of the oldest beings in the galaxy if not the universe. The motes that darted around her were your peers, other cliques and lone sisters who had protection by virtue of being near her.

You could only look in awe at the massive bulk and power of this particular Legendary Elder Sister as Big Sister ChiChi drew close to her, before gaining permission to dock.

You and your sisters were given by Big Sister ChiChi a small allowance of alloyed black discs with a single glowing green mote in their center. You had the basic concept of money, you just never expected to be given such.

- - -
Dark Heavens | Space Ship Girls
012 : Journey to Utopia
- - -